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差不多占总员工的3.5个百分点。
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Finning Canada has laid off 160 salaried staff in Alberta and B.C. as sales of Caterpillar equipment slows in the economic downturn.
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Every office and every staff level, from support staff to management, in both provinces were affected, human resources vice-president Miles Hunt said Thursday.
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Twenty-nine people lost their jobs in Edmonton, where Finning Canada has its head office.
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"It's the toughest decision we have to make in our business life, and it's been a hard few days for us," Hunt said.
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3 Y) @! @0 d+ `. n& B. W, {It brings Finning Canada's workforce down to about 4,300.2 B5 V. T" e( ^1 p8 V& L- O
6 |4 |. G) W( v ~# M) K+ pNo hourly workers - who service and rebuild construction and mining equipment - are affected.
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In fact, the company is still hiring mechanics and technicians, Hunt said.
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8 ^) r! _& H6 p; Q"That's the paradoxical thing. Even though things are changing, Fort McMurray (Alta.) is still growing, and we need more people up there," he said.# O( m3 G+ l- ?8 b( Y0 B% M
0 {6 h% s/ e( I ^"It's our customers who are going to get us through this, and that's the last place we want to cut."
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The recent delays and cancellations of oilsands projects - a major income source for Finning - was not a factor in the layoffs, Hunt said.
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) O7 D" B( L% x9 X2 r6 B/ q) D"We're still very busy in the oilsands."
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+ ]( J& w' c; m: j1 f( G/ ?Hunt said Finning has been immune to recent downturns, but is now being affected by slowing sales in some areas.5 b3 ~% ~+ A' m) e
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They will continue to monitor the situation, but "we can't say it's the end" of layoffs, he added.
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( C6 h9 f# }5 D6 D7 {% xThe employees, most of whom got the bad news Wednesday, will get severance packages and outplacement help, he said.
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! x/ c* v3 w. K6 p5 w2 T# S" DMike Waites, CEO of Vancouver-based parent company Finning International Inc., recently lowered the 2008 earnings guidance due to a slowdown in some of its businesses in Western Canada and the United Kingdom.% B: [- k; z( U. @7 x, ]
& }" b+ x" ~, [/ ?% |Demand for new equipment will likely soften and some purchases may be deferred, but that will result in an increase in its parts and service business - Finning's most profitable business - he said.
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9 X0 m) @( Z; ?9 n8 N& C' v+ O7 p# rFinning reported third-quarter net income of $64.8 million compared to $63.6 million for the same quarter last year. Revenues were a record $1.46 billion, compared to $1.33 billion a year before.; _& ?; e" q; x% A( W/ V4 F& E( S
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Its order backlog has also grown to a new record of $2 billion, dominated by mining equipment, "and provides good revenue visibility for 2009 and into 2010," Waites said. |
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